Peter Rolfe pays tribute to Stephen Dempsey, murdered 25 years ago by Richard Leonard
It’s the crime that gripped the northern beaches. Twenty-five years ago Stephen Dempsey was gruesomely murdered with a bow and arrow by Richard Leonard. Now the victim’s former partner has returned to the scene of the crime and revealed why he will never forgive the ‘revolting’ killer.
A quarter of a century ago, the northern beaches was rocked by two grisly murders but it was months before the crimes were linked and not until the following year that two people were charged.
Now, on the 25th anniversary of the first murder — that of Palm Beach man Stephen Dempsey — his former partner and friend Peter Rolfe has described the anguish of Mr Dempsey’s loved ones as they waited to learn what had happened to him after finding his car abandoned at Deep Creek Reserve, Narrabeen.
“It was very, very difficult to cope with wondering what had happened during those months he was missing,” Mr Rolfe, who was originally the prime suspect, said.
“His boot and broken sunglasses were found a few days after. We knew then no good had come to him.
“When his torso washed up months later and we learned it was him, we were glad to know.”
Twenty-five years ago on August 2, landscaper Mr Dempsey, 34, was murdered at Deep Creek Reserve — a known gay beat — by an arrow fired from a compound bow by Warriewood man Richard Leonard.
Leonard dumped Mr Dempsey’s body in the creek, went home to celebrate his mother’s birthday, before returning to the spot where he dismembered the body and took the body parts home.
In a secretly recorded conversation later in jail, Leonard would tell a cellmate about how during the months he kept Mr Dempsey’s remains in the freezer he would take them out to play.
“You know sometimes when I got, when I got bored … I’d bring him out and roll his head across the floor and bring his arms out and try to stick his arms and play jigsaws,” Leonard said.
His girlfriend Denise Shipley, believed to be still living and working on the northern beaches, witnessed this and was “completely freaked out”, according to Leonard. But she didn’t tell police, leaving him free to kill again.
“He was a horrible, horrible man,” Mr Rolfe, 76, told the Manly Daily. “He was a complete and utter psychopath, a pathological liar, and just evil.”
It was not until four months later that Leonard, 22, and Shipley, 19, disposed of Mr Dempsey’s body in Pittwater, where it was found on December 21.
By then, Leonard had killed another man — 42-year-old taxi driver and father-of-seven Ezzedine Bahmad.
Leonard and Shipley had taken the drug LSD on November 17 and hailed a taxi to take them from the city to Collaroy Plateau, where Mr Bahmad was stabbed 37 times with a knife and had his throat slit.
The two investigations — one into Mr Dempsey’s disappearance and one into Mr Bahmad’s murder — were being run side-by-side by Chatswood homicide squad until the two were linked after Leonard’s appearance at St Vincent’s Hospital for treatment for wounds he sustained in the attack.
A nurse at the hospital called police, who interviewed Leonard and Shipley.
They linked Leonard’s compound bow dumped in the creek to him, and the arrow head lodged in Mr Dempsey’s heart.
Mr Dempsey’s head, legs and arms, have never been found.
Leonard and Shipley confessed their crimes to a pastor at Christian City Church at Brookvale in May 1995.
The police were called and Leonard and Shipley made full admissions.
While Shipley was acquitted of Mr Bahmad’s murder she was found guilty to accessory after the fact to murder, Leonard was found guilty of both murders. As he was being led away after being sentenced to life without parole he stopped and smiled at Mr Dempsey’s mum, according to Mr Rolfe.
“He stopped and winked at her,” he said. “That was the kind of person he was — revolting. I will never forgive him.”
The only satisfaction Mr Rolfe can take from the situation is that Leonard, currently in Goulburn prison, will never be released. While Leonard has never apologised, his uncle called Mr Rolfe out of the blue three years after the trial to say he was sorry for what his nephew had done.
This week Mr Rolfe spoke out on the 25th anniversary to ensure that his former partner Mr Dempsey is not forgotten.
In his tribute he revealed the pair met in Coogee in 1978 and hit it off immediately, moving to Whale Beach after falling in love with the area. They enjoyed the freedom, the beach and the surf. Mr Dempsey was a mad surfer.
He still has happy memories of his time on the peninsula, including celebrating Mr Dempsey’s 21st at The Scullery in Avalon, the couple’s favourite restaurant.
Three years after their romance began their relationship turned into a platonic one, more of a father-son relationship which lasted until Mr Dempsey’s murder.
“The romantic relationship was never going to last,” Mr Rolfe said. “He met someone else and I met someone else. But we maintained our friendship.
“He was a fabulous, kind, generous guy. He never had no worries, never worried about a mortgage. He lived life to the fullest.”
“When he moved in with me he told me I was his security. Those words still stick in my mind all these years later,” Mr Rolfe said. “Would he still be alive if we had not met? “Would he have moved to the northern beaches? These are questions I still ask myself.”
As he visited Deep Creek this week — the scene of Mr Dempsey’s murder — Mr Rolfe said it was a beautiful spot, “so calm and serene, and belies the tragedy that occurred here 25 years ago”.
Despite the horror of what happened there Mr Rolfe feels comfortable returning because he made a decision long ago not to allow what Leonard did to have a hold over him.
At one of the trials Leonard pulled a hideous face at him.
“That’s when I thought, ‘Richard Leonard you have ruined my life and Stephen’s family’s lives, but you are not going to have a hold over me forever,” he said.
Mr Rolfe has never found another partner since Mr Dempsey’s murder.
Instead he has devoted himself to helping the families of victims of murder, many who have been high profile cases, including Matthew Leveson’s parents and the family of murderer Matthew de Gruchy.
On the anniversary of Mr Dempsey’s death he was in court supporting another victim.
But at night Mr Dempsey comes to him often in his dreams where he remembers him as the lanky young man who had so much to live for.
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